The hospitality industry consists of various professions and roles, such as cleaning staff, concierge, maintenance vendors, suppliers, and event planners. These teams work to generate business resulting in increased sales and revenue. However, every industry has its language that people not belonging to the
sector are unfamiliar with. It is essential for the people working in the industry to know the specific terms to conduct successful business.
Here, we discuss some of the essential terms used in the hospitality industry. Before moving to the terminologies, let us look at some valuable information related to the hospitality industry.
What is a Short-Term Rental?
A short-term vacation rental is a housing or sleeping establishment that leases out furnished properties on a short-term basis. The duration of the occupancy of rooms depends on the owners. Short-term rental owners mainly offer these spaces daily or weekly, where they charge the guests on the number of
nights they spend at the property.
Most short-term owners rent their vacation homes throughout the year, especially when they are not around. These properties include hostels, hotels, vacation rentals, vacation home rentals, and bed and breakfasts. Short-term rentals have become immensely popular over the past years. The Community Development Code (CDC) defines several Short-Term Rental uses:
- Vacation Home Rental: Single-Family home or duplex unit; visitors rent the entire unit
- Vacation Rental: multiple-family unit; visitors rent the entire unit
- Bed & Breakfast: Single-family home; owner/operator occupied; 2+ guestrooms
- Temporary Short-Term Rental: Single-family home or duplex unit; visitors rent the entire unit;
Limited use, limited-term, and occurrence, limited districts, no permit required
Are the Owners Property Managers?
Professional property managers or the owners themselves run vacation rental homes. Rental owners prefer managing their properties if they reside close to their rental properties. They like welcoming their guests and ensuring their safety and comfort. Since rental owners are representing their rental spaces,
they go out of their way to help their guests and provide assistance if needed.
On the other hand, many rental property owners hire professional managers to run the place. Since it requires a lot of effort and time, they prefer hiring professionals to look after the site while focusing on other important matters. Professional property managers have portfolios of listing that they manage on
behalf of the rental owners and earn commission on every booking.
Are Rental Homes Well-Designed?
Every rental owner wishes to decorate their space to attract visitors. They focus on appealingly designing their properties to attract people to book their rental homes. Therefore, they pay attention to the minor details that make huge differences in terms of looks.
Tips to Decorate Your Rental Property
Here are a few simple ways to decorate your rental property to attract more guests:
Have Necessary Supplies
Before renting your vacation home to guests, ensure you equip your rental home with all the essential supplies to avoid inconvenience.
Some must-haves in a rental property include welcome gifts, kitchen utensils, blankets, water, bottle openers, and emergency gadgets.
Guaranteed Comfort and Durability
Ensure you choose furnishing that offers comfort and durability. Select furniture that adds character to your rental without risking sustainability.
Here are a few tips you can follow to ensure your guests enjoy a comfortable and homey stay:
- Avoid light upholstery
- Use durable floor surfaces
- Leave extra towels and blankets
- Use a high-quality, luxe mattress
Ensure all the accessories you purchase for the rental space fit perfectly in the guests’ ; rooms for greater comfort.
Do Rental Homes Have Good Reviews?
Rental homes have become immensely popular in the past few years. They have replaced the need for a luxury hotel and provided all the essentials needed in a room. They are cost-effective compared to luxury hotels. Travelers have become frequent users of rental homes.
With Airbnb, HomeAway, and multiple other reliable sources offering excellent rental properties, rental homes have gained popularity. The increase in their favor is due to the positive feedback of the visitors and frequent travelers.
How Can You Calculate the Potential ROI of Your STR?
An underwriter specializing in managing vacation rentals can analyze the projected revenue of your STR reports. Connect with underwriters boasting years of experience to receive accurate reports. Underwriters typically use a high-quality tool to measure the success of your potential STR accurately and calculate the annual occupancy and ADR.
Comparing Performance to Assess Risks in Investing
While looking at the report, you will find different numbers that may reveal your overall performance weekly, monthly, and yearly. You can easily compare your current performance with the past years and evaluate how well your STR may be able to perform. If your STR did not perform positively in the current year, the report could help you make improvements for the future by specifying areas of improvement. You can also plan specific strategies to improve your overall performance. To enhance the performance of your STR, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are the owners property managers?
- Is it designed well?
- Do they have good reviews?
- Is it appealing with high-quality images?
- Is the marketing language compelling and engaging?
Are Rental Homes with High-quality Images Appealing?
Rental home photography is crucial for the successful advertisement of your holiday rental house, especially since 75% of online shoppers check out product photos before purchasing. Photos enable potential guests to visualize and experience your rental property before booking it.
Hence, a positive first impression is critical. High-quality, well-lit, and eye-catching photos can positively influence your bookings. But dark, blurry, and low-quality vacation rental images cause travelers to believe your property is unreliable and has negative qualities. Investing in professional photography of your rental reflects your property’s beauty and amenities to captivate potential guests successfully. It also shows your commitment and that your rental is a trustworthy and luxurious place.
In addition, hiring a professional photographer to take high-quality images of your rental offers you the following benefits:
- Increases your rental income by 40 %
- It helps reduce potentially losing rental income
- Gains more enquires and inspections
- Achieves a higher rental return
- Attract high-quality guests
However, your rental marketing strategy will fall apart without professional copywriting. An accurate description of your home highlighting its key features and lacking grammatical mistakes is an excellent way of attracting more vacationers.
Matching your outstanding photographs with an engaging and spellbinding copy that ties your whole story together increases the likelihood of getting your property rented. Ensure you create a stellar ad copy by writing an attention-grabbing headline and an accurate summary, including the following essential terminologies:
Common Terminologies used in Hotel Industry
- ADR (or ARR) – Average Daily Rate, or Average Room Rate
- Check-In – The process where guests register their booking at a hotel and receive their keycards.
- Check Out– The process where guests pay their bills and leave the hotel.
- F&B– Food and Beverage
- GS– Guest Services
- GSM– Guest Services Manager
- STR– Short Term Rental
- Vacation Home Rental–Single-Family home or duplex unit; visitors rent the entire unit
- Vacation Rental–multiple-family unit; visitors rent the entire unit
- Bed & Breakfast–Single Family Home; owner/operator occupied; 2+ guestrooms*
- Occupancy – Rate of occupation of a hotel room concerning the time
- Gross revenue – Sum of money a business generates without considering the amount they will spend on other expenses
- Net revenue – subtracts discount from gross income
- Extranet– The back-end of the rental sales website where users can log in and enter their rates, availability, and restrictions
